Injectable Inventory Management: FEFO, Par Levels and Stocktakes

Bulk buying only saves money if nothing expires in the drawer. Three habits separate clinics that waste stock from those that never do — none of them requiring software more advanced than a spreadsheet.

FEFO: first expiry, first out

Not first-in-first-out — first-expiry-first-out. On receipt of any delivery, shelve new stock behind existing stock and mark each unit’s expiry visibly. Every treatment draws from the front. This single habit eliminates the classic bulk-buying failure of a fresh carton hiding an older one until it dies quietly at the back of the fridge.

Par levels: the reorder trigger

For each product family — fillers by rheology, boosters, consumables — set a minimum on-hand level equal to your longest realistic resupply time plus a buffer. When a family touches par, it goes on the next quarterly order. Par levels turn reordering from judgement calls into arithmetic, feeding directly into the quarterly purchasing cycle.

The fifteen-minute monthly stocktake

Once a month: count units by family, note expiries inside ninety days, reconcile against the batch register. Anything expiring soon gets flagged for priority use. The same fifteen minutes maintains the traceability chain described in batch verification.

Order to the system, not the mood

With FEFO, par levels and a live stocktake, your Wholesale Bag practically fills itself each quarter — the right products, the right depth, nothing wasted. That is bulk buying done properly.